Most women express milk for their infant until they are 12 months old, after which it is safe to feed a baby cow's milk along with many other foods.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that “babies be exclusively breastfed for about the first six months of life. This means your baby needs no additional foods (except vitamin D) or fluids unless medically indicated. Babies should continue to breastfeed for a year and for as long as is mutually desired by the mother and baby.”

Unfortunately, many moms aren't aware that, in Connecticut, it is their legal right in to breastfeed in public places and to express milk or breastfeed. This means that no one can limit a woman's right to breastfeed, and that it is discrimination to do so.

Currently, the U.S. Senate is considering the Supporting Working Moms Act, which would expand a provision in health care reform law to ensure that new mothers have the time and space to express milk for their babies at work. However, mothers in Connecticut have benefited from this type of comprehensive breastfeeding protection for many years.

Women in some states have been arrested, thrown off airplanes and asked to leave public places while nursing their babies. In most cases, the breastfeeding community and state and federal legal systems have heartily defended them.

If you encounter such discrimination, many individuals and organizations will come to your defense. In many cases, these incidents have strengthened breastfeeding laws across the country.

For example, La Leche League (LLLI), a nonprofit organization that promotes breastfeeding internationally, has a section of their website devoted to breastfeeding laws and resources for mothers who have faced discrimination at work or in public.

For more information on breastfeeding rights go to breastfeedingct.org (Connecticut Breastfeeding Coalition), llli.org (La Leche League International) or 2.aap.org/breastfeeding (American Academy of Pediatrics).

Stephanie Welsh is a nurse midwife at Windham Hospital working for Mansfield OB/GYN.